Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[ILovecycling]

Re: Re:

Those gaps were caused by a crosswind and riders being tired and too weak to hold the wheel. Not because of the crash. I would understand if Contador was whining after getting held up by the crash, but he simply wasn't. He should have been better positioned in the finale. Period.

There was no cross wind lol. Froome almost crashed two days ago because he was trying to maintain his position at the front. Don't whine when he crashes out like that one day.

This...

 

[LaFlorecita]

Roman Kreuziger ‏@Roman86_K 52 min
Not complaining but if there is #3km rules on stage 1,3 and 4 in @dauphine than should be aplicated if there is a crash.Wasn't there crash?

ReTweeted by Gaspa and Adam Yates

Dan Martin says:

Dan Martin ‏@DanMartin86 12 min
@Roman86_K rules are not clear and always somebody opinion if split made by crash. It's ***. Take the time with 3km Togo.

 

[ILovecycling]

Re: Re:

My ignore list has expanded drastically during the last few weeks, soon I'll be chatting with myself

I totally understand, so has mine, LOL.

Well, that's ok Flo, I was sometimes wondering why do you bother and quote my ignore list's friends so I see their posts anyway. Very good

I have only Taxus on ignore,but sometimes I scroll down some "experts"...but everybody has good and bad days (comments)

 

[ILovecycling]

Re:

Roman Kreuziger ‏@Roman86_K 52 min
Not complaining but if there is #3km rules on stage 1,3 and 4 in @dauphine than should be aplicated if there is a crash.Wasn't there crash?

ReTweeted by Gaspa and Adam Yates

Dan Martin says:

Dan Martin ‏@DanMartin86 12 min
@Roman86_K rules are not clear and always somebody opinion if split made by crash. It's ******. Take the time with 3km Togo.

Yea,its a real mess,everybody knows it ...also the particular thread always pop up in july

 

[Miburo]

Martin is as objective as you can be. He even gained time cause of this.

 

[PremierAndrew]

The main benefit of taking times with 3km to go isn't even the time, it's the fact that people who aren't interested in the stage can ease up and not increase the number of bodies in the peloton at 60km/h in scenarios where crashes are extremely likely to happen. For the safety of the cyclists it would be great. If one of the sprinters goes down, what's the point of having 140 riders who could run that sprinter over or just simply go down and hurt themselves too

 

[hrotha]

If flat stages are so dangerous they need to be neutralized, stop having flat stages at all.

 

[CTQ]

they are many rules not only the one for the 3 km. no problem with this one yesterday


https://twitter.com/Ciclismo_2014/status/740971757708939264

 

[Miburo]

Re:

If flat stages are so dangerous they need to be neutralized, stop having flat stages at all.

Yea pretty much, thanks for the brilliant idea

 

[ad9898]

There's a lot of chat about the 3k rule but to be honest how he looks and goes against Froome and Porte in the next 3 days is much more important. He's still in the lead and those others need to drop him to win.....now if he had 13 seconds still on Sunday and Froome drops him by 12 secs, Contador still wins....but would we be happy ? Not really has it could spell a confidence issue heading to the Tour

How he goes and looks over the next 3 days is the most important thing, let's see, fingers crossed he'll at least stay with them and defend the time he made in the prologue

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

There's a lot of chat about the 3k rule but to be honest how he looks and goes against Froome and Porte in the next 3 days is much more important. He's still in the lead and those others need to drop him to win.....now if he had 13 seconds still on Sunday and Froome drops him by 12 secs, Contador still wins....but would we be happy ? Not really has it could spell a confidence issue heading to the Tour

How he goes and looks over the next 3 days is the most important thing, let's see, fingers crossed he'll at least stay with them and defend the time he made in the prologue

I would be happier than if he is 4s ahead on Sunday and loses 12s
The biggest issue for me, besides the fact that 4s is of course nearly nothing, is that 4s is within bonus second range. And of course there are still many other contenders for the overall win. It will be difficult to win for Alberto, but I will gladly admit I was wrong if he does

 

[Electress]

Re:

Martin is as objective as you can be. He even gained time cause of this.

As for the cross winds - I too was watching live and the point was made that the parcours meant they went from cross to tail to head wind relatively quickly as the road weaved around in the final few K, so understanding the degree to which a gap would or would not survive is almost impossible to tell.

I guess ultimately, all the riders suffer if there's a lack of consistency because it makes them ride to the most conservative - i.e. contesting each stage final no matter what. I don't think any of them would like to see a situation in which there are all the GC teams and the sprinters teams fighting it out on all the flat stage finishes. Recipe for disaster and their rivals crashing out or being delayed is not the way any of them, I'm sure, wish to win a race.

 

[ad9898]

Re: Re:

There's a lot of chat about the 3k rule but to be honest how he looks and goes against Froome and Porte in the next 3 days is much more important. He's still in the lead and those others need to drop him to win.....now if he had 13 seconds still on Sunday and Froome drops him by 12 secs, Contador still wins....but would we be happy ? Not really has it could spell a confidence issue heading to the Tour

How he goes and looks over the next 3 days is the most important thing, let's see, fingers crossed he'll at least stay with them and defend the time he made in the prologue

I would be happier than if he is 4s ahead on Sunday and loses 12s

I do understand Flo but the most important thing for me is that he doesn't get dropped by Froome by any amount. Porte I'm not to worried about, I don't think he's a Tour contender, Froome though....I don't want to see a wheel width of distance when Froome hits the afterburners, which he will

 

[TheYouyou7]

Re:

3km rule is just plain stupid. Obvious thing to do would be nobody loses time in the last 5 kms or so, in order to prevent GC contenders from getting screwed up. That would in fact help other teams who'd aim for the sprinting. Don't really know how this has never been applied.

Totally agree. Time for GC should be taken at the 3k banner whatever happens. Everyone would benefit.

 

[Vasilis]

Re: Re:

3km rule is just plain stupid. Obvious thing to do would be nobody loses time in the last 5 kms or so, in order to prevent GC contenders from getting screwed up. That would in fact help other teams who'd aim for the sprinting. Don't really know how this has never been applied.

Totally agree. Time for GC should be taken at the 3k banner whatever happens. Everyone would benefit.

But if you crash with 3.5k to go, that means you will lose time, even though you might have made it back if the times were taken at the finish. Or should we also add a 6km rule for crashes, mechanicals etc. that protect riders from losing time in the last 3 GC kms?

 

[lenric]

Re: Re:

3km rule is just plain stupid. Obvious thing to do would be nobody loses time in the last 5 kms or so, in order to prevent GC contenders from getting screwed up. That would in fact help other teams who'd aim for the sprinting. Don't really know how this has never been applied.

Totally agree. Time for GC should be taken at the 3k banner whatever happens. Everyone would benefit.

But if you crash with 3.5k to go, that means you will lose time, even though you might have made it back if the times were taken at the finish. Or should we also add a 6km rule for crashes, mechanicals etc. that protect riders from losing time in the last 3 GC kms?

The number of kms for the rule should be decided in a conversation between 2 parties: both the riders and the rulers, or even the directors from the teams.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Interesting stage today, what are your expectations? I guess Froome will give it a try, that should sort out the GC a bit. Fingers crossed that Berto has strong legs

 

[LaFlorecita]

Yesterday Alberto said his legs still lack speed, is it typical Alberto sandbagging or is he speaking the truth? we'll find out today
Normally his legs shouldn't lack speed after 5 stages, just look at Algarve.

 

[Matteo.]

Re:

Yesterday Alberto said his legs still lack speed, is it typical Alberto sandbagging or is he speaking the truth? we'll find out today
Normally his legs shouldn't lack speed after 5 stages, just look at Algarve.

In fact it's the usual lie or excuse as you prefer. Finally today begin the mountains, no more excuses (for anyone) and we'll see who will be the strongest. I can not wait

 

[Jakub]

Re:

Interesting stage today, what are your expectations? I guess Froome will give it a try, that should sort out the GC a bit. Fingers crossed that Berto has strong legs

Actually it's TLMRTP who may attack first and let's hope Bertie let him go and Froome loses his nerves and starts to chase him down.
Of course the best would be Roman or Jesper able to help, but....

Or Trofimov

 

[ILovecycling]

Re:

Interesting stage today, what are your expectations? I guess Froome will give it a try, that should sort out the GC a bit. Fingers crossed that Berto has strong legs

Very much looking forward to today's stage! I expect Alberto and Froome play a waiting game for a little while and Froome to attck then....Porte has the biggest chance to go under the radar,it will be interesting

I hope for strong legs too!

 

[Miburo]

Froome never did a waiting game, he always goes.

That's one of the best things of Froome. Yea it's alberto's thread but Froome always attacks, no games of poker.

Sky will go insane today to see where Froome is exactly compared to the rest.

 

[Matteo.]

Re:

Froome never did a waiting game, he always goes.

That's one of the best things of Froome. Yea it's alberto's thread but Froome always attacks, no games of poker.

Sky will go insane today to see where Froome is exactly compared to the rest.

Exactly , i never see Froome wait or control in the first mountain stage, and i like him for this feature. For sure he'll attack today

 

[rune1107]

Quite an irregular climb, with a lot of tempo shifts. It will for sure test their explosiveness, but they will only really have 2 km where they can make a difference. I think we will have to wait for tomorrow to really see, who is best when it comes to a +10 km climb with average gradients. Porte or Bardet ftw, but only because I don't want to jinx our guy. The bookies have Dan Martin as the favourite - don't know what they've been drinking.

 

[ad9898]

Contador will put 10 secs into Froome today, after Froome attacks